A 27-foot-long bronze clown shoe is the only indication that there is something otherworldly within the concrete

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A 27-foot-long bronze clown shoe is the only indication that there is something otherworldly within the concrete walls of the large, rather nondescript building. Located in Montreal, the building is home to what many feel is the most successful entertainment company in the world—Cirque du Soleil.

The company’s massive headquarters houses practice rooms the size of airplane hangars where cast members work on their routines. More than 300 seamstresses, engineers, and makeup artists sew, design, and build custom materials for exotic shows with stage lives of 10 to 12 years. In fact, the production staff often invents materials, such as the special waterproof makeup required for the production of O, a show performed mostly in a 1.5 million-gallon pool of water that was also specially designed and engineered by Cirque employees. Another key in-house resource is Cirque’s team of 32 talent scouts and casting staff that recruits and cultivates performers from all over the world. The department maintains a database of 20,000 names, any of whom could be called at any time to join the members of Cirque’s cast, who number 2,700 and speak 27 languages.

Shows with exotic names like Mystère, La Nouba, O, Dralion, Varekai, and Zumanity communicate through style and tone that they are intended to do more than just amusing. Cirque designs productions with distinct personalities that are meant to evoke awe, wonder, inspiration, and reflection. As one cast member put it, “The goal of a Cirque performer is not just to perform a quadruple somersault, but to treat it as some manifestation of a spiritual, inner life. Like in dance, the goal is . . . to have a language, a conversation, with the audience.”

Incredibly, every one of the 15 shows that Cirque has produced over its 20-year history has returned a profit. In contrast, 90 percent of the high-budget Broadway shows that strive to reach the same target market fail to break even. Cirque’s statistics, however, are eye-popping. Mystère, which opened at the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas in 1993 and still runs today, cost $45 million to produce and has returned over $430 million; O, which opened at the Bellagio hotel and casino in 1998, cost $92 million to produce and has already returned over $480 million. Though the company splits about half of its profits with its hotel and casino partners, those same partners sometimes absorb up to 75 percent of Cirque’s production costs.

At the helm of this incredible business, the machine is the dynamic duo of Franco Dragone and Daniel Lamarre. Dragone, a Belgian, is the creative force behind most of the company’s ten current productions, and Lamarre, a former television executive, presides over the show and new venture development. Together, they have transformed a one-tour, one-residence circus company into an entertainment powerhouse with five simultaneous world tours; four permanent facilities in Las Vegas—Treasure Island, the Bellagio, New York–New York, and the MGM Grand—all of which are part of the Mirage family of casinos; another permanent theater at Disney World; and a series of shows on the cable television channel Bravo that has already won an Emmy.

Lamarre claims that his business is successful because he and his staff “let the creative people run it.” He guides the company with an invisible hand, making sure that business policies do not interfere with the creative process; it is Dragone and his team of creative and production personnel, not a predetermined budget, that defines the content, style, and material requirements for each project. Because of its sound planning, Cirque du Soleil can claim that it is one of the world’s elite businesses, as well as one of the world’s elite entertainment companies.

Explain how Cirque du Soleil implements, evaluates and controls the elements of its marketing plan.